Wednesday, March 25, 2020

'Help Us Get Supplies,' Americans Desperate for COVID-19 Help
Monday, 23 March 2020 8:42 PM
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A man is pushed in his wheelchair to the Path train station where service operates on a weekend schedule due to the coronavirus outbreak on March 23, 2020 in Hoboken, New Jersey. (AFP photos)
America cities and states are desperate for help from the federal government over the coronavirus pandemic.

"Anyone out there who can help us get these supplies, we have only days to get them in place. That is the reality," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN Monday

The US military was, meanwhile, preparing to set up field hospitals in New York and Seattle as the US failed to advance a coronavirus stimulus package for the second time.

“Right now, I anticipate sending a [field] hospital to Seattle and a hospital to New York City,” US Defense Secretary told reporters at the Pentagon, adding, “my aim is to get them out this week.”

The country is also grappling with shortage in medical supplies necessary to support health workers amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

"We are the be all and end all and lifeline to these patients, and yet we are being contaminated and cross contaminating,” Karine Raymond, a nurse at Jack D. Weiler Hospital in New York's Bronx borough told Reuters.

Fifteen out of 50 US states have imposed restrictions on movements to battle the fast growing spread of the virus.

Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib have introduced legislation to  provide emergency grants for the homeless to tackle the spread of the virus and its economic ramifications.

According to Tlaib , a Muslim congresswoman, “our response to the COVID-19 pandemic must be comprehensive and, as such, it must center those most vulnerable among us… Families and individuals dealing with homelessness are more vulnerable to this disease at no fault of their own and need access to safe shelter and necessary medical care.”

(L-R) US Rep. Veronica Escobar, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,  Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ayanna S. Pressley attend a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. (File photo)
The Public Health Emergency Shelter Act would offer $15.5 billion in grants to serve homeless communities.

“By investing $15.5 billion in emergency grants to state and local governments, the Public Health Emergency Shelter Act will ensure that frontline workers have the resources and support they need to protect the health and safety of the nearly 500,000 people across this country experiencing homelessness,” Pressley said in a statement. “In these unprecedented times, this bill boldly affirms that poverty is not a character flaw, and nobody deserves less because they can’t afford more.”

The legislation was introduced amid the dire economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

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